


Beverly Marsh Beats the Devil

by Duck_Life



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Divorce, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Friendship, Gen, Physical Abuse, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-28 21:15:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21143309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: With Ben and Richie backing her up, Beverly goes home to pack up her things.





	Beverly Marsh Beats the Devil

Coming home doesn’t feel like coming home. When she returns to the house she shared with Tom, Beverly half-expects the mailbox to say “Kersh,” all evidence of her life here erased. She twists her key in the lock and nudges the door open, waiting for a decrepit old woman, the spirit of her father, a river of blood.

The place looks just as she left it. That god-awful portrait of her and Tom is still hanging in the foyer. “Come on,” she calls to Ben and Richie. They come in carrying empty boxes and canvas bags. 

The packing up process begins in Beverly’s bedroom. She takes her shoes and pants and blouses and bundles them into boxes as fast as she can, anxious every minute that Tom will come home. Even with Ben and Richie here, she doesn’t feel safe. 

It’s kind of ridiculous, she thinks to herself as she folds a pair of slacks. She managed to defeat the child-eating clown, but her husband still frightens her. 

“We’ll take these to the trailer out back,” Ben says, hefting an impressive number of heavy boxes. Behind him, Richie struggles to outdo him and ends up dropping a box on his foot. The two head out the back door and Beverly focuses on her bedroom. What can she live without? What does she need to pack? 

She’s deciding whether she really wants to take that old throw pillow when Tom appears in the doorway. 

“Bevvie?” he says softly. 

She drops the pillow. “Tom,” she says, and hates herself for feeling  _ guilty _ . As if she’s done something wrong. 

“Thank God you’re okay,” he says, stepping closer. “I was so worried.”

( _ Sometimes I worry a LOT. _ )

“Well, I’m fine,” Beverly says quickly, trying not to cringe as he draws closer. “I have… my friends are right outside.” 

“That’s good,” Tom says, acting every inch the perfect husband she used to pretend he was. “I’m glad you have a support system, Bevvie, really. Divorce is difficult on everyone.”

“Divorce?”

“Well, you made it pretty clear when you left your wedding ring behind,” Tom points out. “I’ve been speaking to a lawyer, getting the papers drawn up… that  _ is _ what you want, right?”

“I… yes, but…”  _ Why are you letting me go? _

“A part of me will always love you, but it’s obvious our marriage isn’t working anymore,” Tom says. Reasonable Tom. Kind, considerate Tom. She feels like vomiting. “If you have an address where I can reach you, I’ll send you the papers as soon as possible.” 

“Why are you being so… ?”  _ Sweet _ .  _ Normal. _ And then the answer shows up.

“Tom?” A woman’s voice from the hallway. “Tom, is she… ? Oh. Hello, Bev,” she says, walking into the bedroom. 

Tom gestures to the woman. “Beverly, you remember Kay McCall.”

Of course. She knows Kay. She  _ likes _ Kay. Kay is a genius fashion writer who’s done a lot of pieces on Rogan + Marsh. And right now, Beverly wishes more than anything that Kay would turn around and run the other way. 

She feels the horror not of a woman discovering her husband with someone else, but of a fly narrowly evading a spider and turning back to see someone else ensnared in the web. 

“Kay was there for me after you went back to Maine,” Tom explains. He puts an arm around her. Beverly suddenly wishes she were holding a fire poker, or maybe a baseball bat. 

Kay seems to notice the tension in the room. "You know what? I'm just going to go downstairs and make some martinis." As soon as she's gone, Tom's eyes slide toward Beverly in a way that reminds her all too much of her father. 

Before he can say anything, though, Richie and Ben reappear on the landing. Richie reacts like a gun going off. "You son of a bitch," he yells, sailing toward Tom. 

Beverly has to hold him back. (Ben is helping, but not much.) "Just leave it, Rich," Beverly says, because the last thing she wants is a fight. 

"Well, well," Tom jeers, looking at Ben and Richie. "I think you've outdone me, Bevvie. I bring one woman back to the house, you bring two men." 

"They're my friends," Beverly says, even though Ben is definitely more. She doesn't want to get into it with Tom, doesn't want him to have any more ammo.

"I'm sure," Tom says. He leans close to Beverly, close enough that he's right by her ear. "Good friends, I'll bet," he says. "Do they know about the things you let me do to you?"

Ben lets go of Richie and punches Tom square in the jaw. 

Everything slows down for Beverly. She grabs Ben's arm and hauls him out of her old bedroom before Tom can retaliate. "Richie," she says. "Please get that last box from the dresser." Fuck everything else, all her other stuff. They need to get out of here. 

She spills down the stairs and stops short when she sees Kay in the kitchen, her eyes wide. "Beverly?" Kay asks, glancing upstairs. She's holding two freshly made martinis. "Is everything okay?"

Beverly looks back up at the stairs, at Ben, back at Kay. "No," she says finally. "No, everything's not okay. I don't know what Tom told you but he's… he's not a good guy. He's not a good person."

One quick look at Ben again. His face is unreadable. Beverly pulls aside the collar of her shirt to show Kay the burn mark on her shoulder. 

"Tom doesn't… he didn't like it when I would smoke," she says. "One time when he c-caught me… he gave me this."

"Jesus Christ." Kay sets the martini glasses down with shaky hands. Ben looks like he's about to punch a wall. "I didn't… I had no idea."

"Because he was good at hiding it," Beverly says. "Because I was hiding it too. But not anymore." She stares at Kay, hard. "Come with me."

"Yeah," Kay says without hesitation. "I'm there."

Richie comes rushing down the stairs, the cardboard box clutched to his chest. Tom is right behind him. 

"She's lying," Tom yells, chasing after Richie. "The bitch lies about everything."

"Well, she told us you were a piece of shit, and that turned out to be true," Richie says, jumping the last three steps and landing next to Ben. "Fellas, let's roll."

"My lawyer will be in touch," Bev calls out to Tom, walking out with Richie, Kay and Ben.

"Kay!" Tom hollers, running down the stairs. "Where the hell are you going?"

"Out," Kay says. The door slams shut behind her. 

* * *

In Ben's car, Bev sits up front with Ben while Richie and Kay take the back. "I just… I feel so  _ stupid _ ," Kay mumbles, looking out the window. "He really had me going. He told me all this shit about… I mean, he made  _ you  _ seem like… I just feel so stupid."

Beverly twists around to look at her. "Tom is a master manipulator," she says. "He twists everything to his own narrative."

"Yeah, my ex-husband was just like him," Kay sighs. "And I mean  _ just _ like him, right down to… God, I feel like an idiot."

"I have to get a lawyer," Beverly muses. 

Kay says, "If you want, I know a really good divorce attorney."

They drive for about ten minutes before Ben declares that what they all need right now is some good-old greasy diner food, and he finds a Waffle House and the four of them bundle into a booth for hash browns, eggs, toast and cheeseburgers. 

And it’s not perfect, and there’s a long road ahead of Beverly now. But at least she’s got good food— good food, and good company. And she’s going to be okay. Somehow, eventually, she’s going to be okay. 

It’s a start. 


End file.
